Members of the council have the ability to influence the development of new cloud standards as well as driving customer requirements to gain acceptance by Global 2000 companies.

The stated aim of the CSCC, which has more than 160 member companies, is to drill down into the standards, security and interoperability issues surrounding the transition to the cloud.

"We look forward to the responsibilities that our membership with the Cloud Standards Customer Council brings," said Hansruedi Jörg, vice president, worldwide business development at GMC Software Technology.

"In addition, we hope we can be a valuable contributor in driving the standards process and the exchange of real-world practices, insights and thought leadership."

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), spending on public IT cloud services continues to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.6%, from $21.5bn (£13.1bn) in 2010 to $72.9bn by 2015.